Life Cycle

Propagation

Stems

Stems are erect, spreading or lying horizontally on the ground and bending upwards but rooting from nodes (a) in contact with the soil; stems 5 - 150 cm long, coarse, smooth, usually round in cross-section but occasionally much flattened.

Flowers and Fruit

Inflorescence 5 - 25 cm long having a central stem with several spreading, nearly erect, thick branches with rather dense clusters of spikelets; their colour varies from green to yellowish-green to dark purplish-green to almost black; each spikelet is covered with short, stiff hair and may either be awned or awnless; and contain a single fertile floret (â€œseedâ€ or â€œgrainâ€); awns straight or twisted (f), varying from 1 - 40 mm long; â€œseedsâ€ about 3 mm long, hard, shiny, pale yellow, and rounded on one surface but flattened on the other. Flowers from July to August.

Roots and Underground Structures

Habitat

It occurs in cultivated fields, waste places, along road-sides, in gardens and occasionally in lawns, usually being more abundant in moist soil and becoming conspicuous in late summer and fall. It is distinguished from all other weedy grasses in Canada by the complete absence of a ligule (e) at the junction of leaf blade and leaf sheath, and its rather coarse, chunky inflorescence.

Weed Control Options

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